Decidedly Disconnected

In 2014, Bruce Kirkby set out with his family to live for three months at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the western Himalaya. Kirkby is a man who operates at extremes. He is an adventurer and photographer who crosses hot deserts by camel and cold mountains by horse; he is also a travel writer and the former host of the CBC’s short-lived version of No Opportunity Wasted.

Kirkby mines his many expedition experiences for corporate keynote addresses, mainly on the topics of grit and resilience. But the resilience he needed to properly support his own son, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, was being undermined by an addiction to his iPhone and social media feeds. He decided the best place to detox from technology — and to build stronger family ties — was in an isolated valley in northern India, far away from their home in the Rocky Mountain town of Kimberley, British Columbia. Since life is about the journey, not the destination, the Kirkbys eschewed air...